THE CRUSADE against electronic bingo conducted by Gov. Bob Riley and Mobile County District Attorney John Tyson Jr. should be halted before someone gets hurt. The Governor’s Task Force on Illegal Gambling already has cost thousands of working Alabamians their paychecks, as casinos from Jefferson to Houston counties have closed their doors. It has cost taxpayers large sums of money in state police manpower and in legal fees. It also has embarrassed the state, while distracting citizens and legislators from the more urgent and serious financial problems facing state government and public schools. But with Mr. Tyson’s direct warning to Greenetrack in Greene County to shut down, and Greene County Sheriff Ison Thomas’ threat to block a raid, accompanied by state Sen. Bobby Singleton’s suggestion to deputize people to help the sheriff, the controversy has become dangerously volatile. Before a confrontation between different arms of law enforcement occurs, the task force should stop raiding casinos, allow all of them to reopen, put Alabamians back to work and wait for the Alabama Supreme Court and/or the Legislature to resolve the issues. Gov. Riley and Mr. Tyson insist they are correctly interpreting the law and recent Supreme Court decisions as outlawing electronic bingo. They say the bingo machines are slot machines in disguise. Others disagree, including Attorney General Troy King, a slew of lawyers for casino operators, Sheriff Thomas and various judges who have refused to issue warrants for raids. None of the extensive legal arguments the Press-Register editorial board has heard justifies an armed confrontation at Greenetrack. Fortunately, as this newspaper went to press, one had not occurred. But if Mr. Tyson goes forward with a raid, and if Sheriff Thomas and other local officials try to block it with anything stronger than a court order, people could get hurt and incalculable damage could be done to Alabama’s national reputation and to the rule of law that Mr. Tyson says he so values. We’ve heard the governor say several times that the state wouldn’t condone a meth lab even if it provided 500 jobs. That comparison doesn’t work, because no one disputes that meth is illegal and no law-abiding citizen would work for a meth lab. The people who went to work for Country Crossing outside Dothan, for VictoryLand in Shorter, for White Hall and for Greenetrack were not committing crimes. They thought they had found jobs with employers willing to make high-dollar investments in their communities. Ordinary Alabamians are being hurt far more, proportionately, than the so-called “gambling bosses” whom Gov. Riley and Mr. Tyson have targeted. In addition to causing casino workers to go without paychecks, the Riley administration is shamelessly using intimidation tactics against some state workers. For example, some employees of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board who work in enforcement, and who probably thought they were doing nothing wrong by simply going into Country Crossing or VictoryLand in their off-duty time, have been ordered to stop going. And, incredibly, they’ve also been told to report to the ABC the names of relatives and close friends “employed at or connected to any gaming facilities in this state.” The legal issues are being deliberated in several courts. The Legislature has a number of bills to consider and has set a schedule for debate. Let’s settle the issues, without middle-of-the-night raids, without threats and intimidation, without dangerous armed confrontations, and without putting more Alabamians on the unemployment rolls.